This invention is directed to advertising and information display systems, and more particularly to advertising, diagnostic, and informative displays for mobile vehicles.
Owners and operators of trucks and other mobile vehicles often travel to areas with which they are unfamiliar. Even in areas with which they are familiar, there are often nearby resources for obtaining goods and services for their vehicles, and for other purposes, of which they are unaware.
Conversely, dealers of trucks and other automotive products and services incur enormous costs in advertising their products. Unfortunately, much of this expense is wasted when a large percentage of the audience exposed to their radio, print, or other media-based advertisements may have no need or desire for the product or service advertised, because they do not own the particular type of vehicle for which the product or service is available, or their vehicle does not currently need the particular product or service, or because they are not located near (or do not know they""re located near) a convenient source for the advertised product or service.
It would be advantageous for vehicle owners and operators to be made aware of potential needs that their vehicle might require, and also of nearby resources for satisfying that need. It would also be mutually advantageous for vehicle manufacturers and/or dealers, as well as for owners and operators, if a vehicle occupant could be alerted to these possible needs by means of an advertisement or other message directing the vehicle operator to a particular service center, store, or other resource in the vicinity of the vehicle.
Conventional systems are available that can tell the driver of the vehicle his position, and there are systems that can provide maps to desired destinations. However, these systems require inputs from the driver or vehicle operator as to what destination or type of destination is desired. Conventional systems are available that alert a driver if there is a problem with his vehicle. And of course, conventional systems are available to direct advertising at vehicle drivers (e.g., billboards, commercial radio, etc.).
However, no systems are available that choose and communicate advertising or advisory messages to a driver based on some physical attribute of the vehicle (e.g., type of vehicle, condition of vehicle, etc.) and/or the vehicle""s position. Such a system would allow precise targeting of advertisements and/or advisory messages.
The invention is directed toward addressing one or more of the above concerns.
In one aspect of the invention, A method of operating an onboard electronic control module (ECM) for a mobile vehicle comprises determining vehicle status data representative of a characteristic of the vehicle; determining a recommended course of action based on the vehicle status data; and communicating the recommended course of action to an occupant of the vehicle in an advertisement message, including at least one of a suggestion to obtain a specific commercial brand of merchandise, a suggestion to obtain merchandise from a specific vendor, and a suggestion to obtain a service from a specific merchant.
In another aspect of the invention, an action recommendation system for a mobile vehicle comprises an ECM; a user interface capable of receiving a message from the ECM and one of displaying and announcing the message to an occupant of the vehicle; a memory accessible by the ECM; and a program in the memory. The program is accessible and operable by the ECM to determine a vehicle status characteristic based on a vehicle status input, to determine a recommended course of action based on the vehicle status characteristic, and to communicate the recommended course of action to the occupant via the message. The recommended course of action communicated to the occupant includes at least one of obtaining a specific commercial brand of merchandise, obtaining merchandise from a specific vendor, and obtaining a service from a specific merchant.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of operating an ECM for a mobile vehicle comprises determining vehicle status data representative of a characteristic of the vehicle; determining position data representative of a geographical position of the vehicle; determining a recommended course of action based on the vehicle status data and the position data; and communicating the recommended course of action to an occupant of the vehicle.
In still another aspect of the invention, an action recommendation system for a mobile vehicle comprises an ECM; a user interface capable of receiving a message from the ECM and one of displaying and announcing the message to an occupant of the vehicle; a memory accessible by the ECM; and a program in the memory. The program is accessible and operable by the ECM to determine a geographical position of the vehicle based on a position input, to determine a vehicle status characteristic based on a vehicle status input, to determine a recommended course of action based on the vehicle status characteristic and the geographical position, and to communicate the recommended course of action to the occupant via the message.